Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens during an NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on March 7, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona. The goaltender’s lingering absence was one of the dominant threads for the first half of 2015-16.Christian Petersen/Getty Images
If Carey Price's presence in the Montreal Canadiens' lineup was the pre-eminent storyline in the NHL last season, his lingering absence was one of the dominant threads for the first half of 2015-16.
Price began the season the way he finished last year, off to a 10-2 start, and threatening to repeat as the NHL's MVP, top goaltender and chief talking point. He was ubiquitous. But then came the injuries – first one, then another – and since he's been out, Montreal has tumbled down the standing. From a wide lead atop the Atlantic, the Habs have now been passed by the Florida Panthers, led by that aging rock star, 43-year-old Jaromir Jagr. With that greying hair and young-at-heart approach, Jagr looks as though he could be on tour with a geriatric metal band. Early on, there were whispers about a possible Stanley Cup run in Montreal. Now the focus needs to be squarely on qualifying for the playoffs.
But Price's unexpectedly long convalescence wasn't the only absence that featured prominently in the NHL's first-half narrative.
The year in Edmonton began with great hope, thanks mainly to a new front-office regime brought in to bring stability to the organization; and the presence of a once-in-a-generation talent, Connor McDavid, chosen first over all in last June's entry draft. McDavid showed all kinds of early potential, too – until a collarbone injury knocked him out of the lineup after scoring 12 points in his first 13 games.
McDavid's precociousness has been most often compared with Sidney Crosby's early days. Crosby, for a decade the face of the NHL, was missing from the top 30 in scoring for most of the first half and overlooked when the NHL released its all-star game rosters last Wednesday. Thankfully, John Scott will show up, to bring joy to all those tuning in for the brand-new three-on-three all-star showcase.
Three-on-three overtime was one of the highlights of a first half in which many other established NHL stars beyond Crosby got off to slow starts, including the Anaheim Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf, who was a frequent choice for first half MVP a year ago.
Did anyone see much of Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia Flyers), Jiri Hudler (Calgary Flames) or Nick Foligno (Columbus Blue Jackets) in the first half? If they did, it was in the fine print, buried in the middle of the NHL scoring stats. Voracek, remember, was the NHL's surprise scoring leader midway through last season and that trio of players finished fifth, eighth and 11th, respectively, in the final Art Ross standing. But they were all far off the numbers they posted in career years last season.
League-wide, goal-scoring continues to be problematic. However, a handful of snipers had no difficulty finding the range, beginning with the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane, who was threatening to win the scoring title last season before a broken collarbone derailed the final quarter of his season. Last year, the Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn finished first in scoring with 87 points, one of the lowest totals in decades. With 60 points in Chicago's first 42 games, Kane is on pace to score 117 points, which would be the highest single-season total since Joe Thornton scored 125 in 2005-06.
The NHL officially hits the mid-season mark when Game 615 between the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers is played Saturday. Here is our annual look at how an unpredictable first half unfolded.
Three biggest surprises (team category)
1. Dallas; 2. Florida; 3. Arizona. The Stars were 10th in the Western Conference standing last year, despite having the second-highest goal total in the league (behind Tampa). Their leap to first in the West has been fuelled mostly because they are continuing to shoot out the lights offensively, while improving their defensive play just enough to win some high-scoring nail biters. Florida's long and painstaking rebuild (it has missed the playoffs in 13 of the past 14 years) is finally gaining some traction, and coach Gerard Gallant will get some attention for coach-of-the-year honours if the Panthers' surge continues. Arizona was the clear choice to finish at the bottom of the Western Conference after turning the keys over to all those kids, but even an injury to starting netminder Mike Smith hasn't undermined the Coyotes' progress. In the NHL's weakest division, the Pacific, they held second place Tuesday and would have home-ice advantage if the playoffs started today. Take a bow, Dave Tippett.
Three biggest disappointments (team category)
1. Columbus; 2. Anaheim; 3. Tampa Bay. Columbus had an exceptional second-half push last year, fuelling talk that it would be not just a playoff team but a dark horse Stanley Cup contender. Instead, Todd Richards became an early coaching casualty, replaced by John Tortorella. Now, the Blue Jackets are leading only in the race to finish last and draft Auston Matthews as a possible replacement for the recently traded Ryan Johansen. The Ducks fought off the urge to sack coach Bruce Boudreau and after spending most of the first half flirting with the Pacific Division basement, have been a little better lately, still in the playoff race in the NHL's weakest division. Tampa, beset by injuries and uncertainty over star Steven Stamkos, is hoping to mimic the Ducks' recent surge. Last year's Stanley Cup finalists would have missed the playoffs at mid-season this year.
Three pleasant surprises (individual category)
1. Taylor Hall/Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton; 2. John Klingberg, Dallas; 3. Bobby Ryan/Mike Hoffman, Ottawa. Hall scored more points in the first half (41) than he did in all of an injury-plagued season a year ago (when he had 38 in 55). Draisaitl started the year in the minors but once McDavid was injured got a call back and has been lights-out good ever since, with 32 points in his first 30 games of the season, shattering the mark of nine he had last year in 37 games. Klingberg, another in the long line of young Swedish defencemen taking the NHL by storm, played 65 games for Dallas last season and managed a very respectable 40 points, but he is No. 2 in scoring by a defenceman this year and a catalyst on Dallas's excellent power play. Ryan, in the first year of that $50-million contract extension, has been far more of an offensive force this season, and he's helped Hoffman get off to a lightning-fast start, after Hoffman's goal-scoring dipped significantly in the final third of last season, when Mark Stone became Ottawa's go-to guy.
Three unexpected disappointments (individual category)
1. Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim; 2. Jiri Hudler, Calgary; 3. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh. At Christmas, Getzlaf – a 25-goal scorer a year ago – had just one goal, into an empty net; and his offensive struggles mirrored those of a Ducks' team that was last in the NHL in scoring. Hudler was No. 8 last year, a career season in which he won the Lady Byng trophy. After 31 goals back then, he had only five now and is out of the lineup with an injury. A pending unrestricted free agent, his value on the open market is slipping daily. Crosby has been surging of late, but his start was glacially slow by his own sky-high standards.
The Golden Oldie parade
1. Jaromir Jagr, Florida; 2 Patrick Sharp, Dallas; 3. Patrick Marleau, San Jose. Jagr, along with team captain Willie Mitchell, have helped create the veteran stability needed for the young Panthers to soar to the top of the Atlantic. There is an outright joy with which Jagr plays the game that belies his age (43) and has been transmitted to his younger teammates. Sharp was a casualty of the Blackhawks' salary-cap pruning, after just a 43-point regular season last year. But riding shotgun on the Stars' top line, the 34-year-old has been dynamic and had already matched last year's goal total (16) at mid-season. Marleau, at 39, long dismissed as fading, just continues to plug along – and 29 points in 37 games is remarkable considering his usual centre, Logan Couture, has missed virtually the entire first half.
The trolls have it
Somebody somewhere figured it this way: The NHL all-star game has been something of a standing joke for years and ballot-box stuffing is a long-standing tradition (hello Rory Fitzpatrick and Zemgus Girgensons). So what could be the most absurd scenario heading into the game in Nashville, which will feature a full-on three-on-three tournament? Hey kids – let's push for John Scott to the starting lineup. Scott is 6-foot-8, hardly plays, is in the NHL because of his fists, not his skating and scoring ability, and has cleared waivers three times this year. So why not choose him as captain of the Pacific Division team ahead of more deserving teammates, such as Max Domi or Oliver Ekman-Larsson, or Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau, who actually excels at three-on-three hockey? And so it was that Scott received more votes than any other player in the league and is scheduled to lead Team Pacific in the all-star game. Thank goodness social media campaigns don't influence really important elections. Otherwise, some half-wit reality TV star could be elected president of the United States.
The first-half MVP candidates
1. Patrick Kane, Chicago; 2. Brayden Holtby, Washington; 3. Jamie Benn, Dallas. Kane had a record 26-game scoring streak earlier this season, even as he adapts to another completely new set of linemates (Artem Anisimov, Artemi Panarin). Holtby has moved into the top echelon of NHL goaltenders, and with a 26-4-4 record, has a chance to become the first goalie in league history to win 50 games in a single season. Benn is part of a dynamic duo in Dallas, and his chemistry with Tyler Seguin continues to grow with each passing day.
The first-half Vézina candidates
1. Brayden Holtby, Washington; 2. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles; 3. Cory Schneider, New Jersey and Roberto Luongo, Florida. Holtby is having the kind of season Price had last year. Quick is the backbone of a resurgent Los Angeles Kings team that has opened up some distance from the rest of the pack in the Pacific Division. Schneider continues to give the New Jersey Devils a chance to win every night, as does his former partner in Vancouver, Luongo, currently helping the Floridas to respectability.
The first-half rookie of the year
1. Dylan Larkin, Detroit; 2. Artemi Panarin, Chicago; 3. Jack Eichel, Buffalo. McDavid seemed well on the way to winning this before he got hurt, and he could still challenge, depending upon when he comes back and how he fares in the second half. In the meantime, what looked like it could be a runaway for McDavid is a tight race again. Panarin leads in scoring with 38 points, while Larkin, Arizona's Max Domi and Eichel are tightly bunched at 28, 28, and 26, respectively. If Panarin continues to pull away, it will be interesting to see if voters penalize him for being 24 – considerably older than the other three – with five full seasons in Russia's KHL under his belt.
The mid-season Stanley Cup favourites
1. Washington; 2. Los Angeles; 3. Chicago. Coach Barry Trotz has added a level of defensive awareness to a Capitals' team that also boasts six players in double digits in goal scoring, including the incomparable Alexander Ovechkin. The Kings are a perennially tough out in the postseason; adding Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier this past week was designed to increase their depth as they push for another title. No team has won back-to-back championships since the Red Wings of 1997 and 1998, but Chicago has the knack of replacing support players on the fly while keeping the nucleus together. The Hawks are as close to an NHL dynasty as a 30-team league operating in a salary-cap era permits.